Airline staff testyfy at trial of Nepalese man

Airline staff testyfy at trial of Nepalese man

JAKARTA (JP): Four members of Singapore Airlines ground staff
testified yesterday at the Central Jakarta District Court in the
trial of Basudev Parajuli, 26, a Nepalese charged with smuggling
1.2 kilograms of heroin from Thailand.

The four employees are, Susana Reppintontoan, the airlines'
duty manager in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Julita
Herna M. Worotikan, Pupung Purnomo and Willy Maskan
Hardjawiganda.

Willy told Judge Atjo Darsono that on Sept. 28, 1994, when
Singapore Airlines flight number SQ-106 from Singapore arrived at
6:05 p.m., he was contacted by a colleague and was told a man had
collapsed in the plane.

"Then my colleague Pupung Purnomo took a wheelchair to the
plane and took Basudev to the airport's health center. Due to the
inadequate medical care available we took Basudev to Atmajaya
Hospital," he said.

He added that he also went to the arrival lounge to check if
there were people carrying a placard with Basudev's name on it to
pick him up.

Willy said that the doctors in Atmajaya Hospital, on Jl. Pluit
Raya in North Jakarta, said Basudev was having a heart attack so
it would be better if Basudev was taken to Harapan Kita Cardiac
Hospital in West Jakarta.

"So I took him to Harapan Kita Hospital in the airport
ambulance and the doctors there said that Basudev's heart was all
right but he was having some problem with drug addiction," Willy
said.

He said the doctors then recommended Cipto Mangunkusumo
General Hospital in Central Jakarta or Fatmawati Hospital in
South Jakarta for treating such an illness.

"Since Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital was nearer we went
there," he said.

Willy said he and Basudev arrived at the hospital at around
8:30 p.m.

"During the journey Basudev slept and there was no sign that
he was in pain. He merely looked like a man who was in a deep
sleep," he said.

Willy said some badly behaved people came to see him at the
hospital, saying they were police officers and they started to
question him about the ill passenger.

"I could not give them any statement because they could not
even show me police identification," Willy said, adding that
later another police officer took him to Kramat police precinct
and questioned him until 4:30 a.m.

Susana, the second witness, told Judge Atjo that she did not
know that the passenger, who was still sleeping when all the
passengers had left the plane, had 103 capsules of heroine in his
stomach.

"I knew his name was Basudev Parajuli after I checked his seat
number on the computer and I knew he was a Nepalese from his
passport," she said.

She said many people had tried to awaken him but he kept on
sleeping.

The third witness, Pupung Purnomo, said he accompanied his
colleague, Willy, as far as Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital, but he
left Willy alone with the doctors at 10 p.m. to return to work at
the airport.

He also said Basudev did not have any baggage except for hand
luggage.

The fourth witness, Julita, said one of her colleagues found
US$500 in Basudev's wallet and took $200 to convert into rupiah
to pay the Nepalese's medical bill.

Julita said she realized that the passenger was involved in a
heroin trafficking case when the police summoned her for
questioning two days after the incident occurred.

Last year it was reported that Basudev was noticed staggering
at Soekarno-Hatta airport and that he collapsed near the
departure hall exit. At the time it was believed that a capsule
had ruptured in his stomach.

Prosecutor Uri Hasan Basri said in the trial that the
defendant swallowed all the capsules at a hotel in Bangkok before
flying to Jakarta on Sept. 28, 1994.

At the hospital the police were informed that the urine sample
of the Nepalese contained traces of heroin and an X-ray showed a
number of mysterious "bubbles" inside his abdomen.

The "bubbles" were then taken out during two different
procedures. After an enema failed to help discharge the
cylinders, his stomach was pumped.

He smuggled the capsules, weighing a total of 1.2 kilograms,
for a Pakistani man, Khan Said, who promised to give the
defendant US$1,000 if he managed to bring the contraband to
Jakarta. Khan Said is still at large.

During the court session, Basudev was accompanied by
prosecutor Meity Joseph, who also acted as an interpreter. Judge
Atjo adjourned the trial until March 30.(mas)